Bismarck Tribune

By TONY SPILDEBy TONY SPILDE

Sgt. Jason Horner was certainly overdressed for the occasion.

In a special suit designed to keep one safe from even the most hazardous chemicals or biological agents, the biggest danger Horner faced on Friday was bleaching his sleeves.

Still, better safe than sorry.

Horner is a member of one of the North Dakota National Guard's newest units, which is now ready to respond to domestic emergencies - particularly those that involve possible chemical or biological threats.

Gov. John Hoeven and Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk announced Friday that the 81st Civil Support Team is now operational. The team's 22 full-time members are headquartered in Bismarck, and are prepared to respond to emergencies in a nine-state region.

As a demonstration of the unit's capabilities, Horner suited up and tested an "unknown" white powder. Using an infrared beam and a computer that recognizes 60,000 different chemical compounds, Horner and Sgt. 1st Class Robert Scharnowske quickly got to the bottom of things.

It was Tide.

It's likely that not all mystery substances will be so benign. The 81st is trained to move in quickly to support first responders in the event of any chemical or biological incident, and is also trained to handle radiation, high-yield explosives and nuclear accidents. An advance team is on call 24 hours a day, and is set up to respond to any incident in the state within 90 minutes.

The unit has been training for about two years, and recently was certified by the Department of Defense.

"This is a proud moment for all of us with the Civil Support Team," said the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Larry Shireley. "It's been an arduous journey, a little over two years. It's been a difficult journey at times, and been a very fulfilling journey at times."

The 81st CST will be called in to help when first responders need assistance.

Joel Boespflug, chief of the Bismarck Fire Department, said the National Guard makes a great partner.

"In the fire service, it's so much more nowadays than just smoke and fire,"Boespflug said. "We could be dealing with weapons of mass destruction or chemical spills. It's nice to know we have a highly trained partner to come in and assist and protect the public."

The CST will train with area fire and police departments, so they can work more easily together on location. Greg Wilz, director of emergency services for North Dakota, said the CSTwill be a major asset, particularly in rural areas.

The Guard has already begun to build a new home for its new unit. Construction will begin this spring on a nearly $4 million building. The 24,000-square-foot structure, to be erected on the grounds at Fraine Barracks, should be ready by July 2008.

The unit's 22 members are full-time employees of the Army and Air Force National Guard. Eleven of them are on-call at a given time.

Within the ranks of the on-call soldiers are even smaller teams of specialists, from an advance team to a communications team to a command team. Each soldier has his or her gear - including a suit like the one Horner demonstrated - packed and ready to roll at a moment's notice.

The service the CSTprovides is a domestic one only. It covers North Dakota at all times, and once every nine months it's on call to cover eight other states in the region.

"We're very aware of our men and women in uniform who are overseas fighting this war on terror - we just got back members of the 188th Air Defense Artillery JLENS group (Thursday) night," Hoeven said. "… But it's not just all the amazing things (soldiers) are doing overseas; (they're) also responding to emergencies in North Dakota."